As Chris Bono enters his sixth season at the helm of South Dakota State, it's impossible to ignore the improvements he's made to the program.

#GetJacked has become one of the more recognizable brands in the sport, and this year alone, Bono and assistants Jon Reader and Cody Caldwell could coach an unprecedented three All-Americans in Brookings, SD.

In our lineup look for today, let's break down the potential squad the Jackrabbits could roll out for the 2017-18 season. And don't forget, you can watch all of SDSU's home duals live on Flo!

Projected SDSU Lineup

125: Justin Portillo/Josh Portillo/Kahlen Morris/Rylee Molitor/Connor Brown
133: No. 1 Seth Gross
141: Henry Pohlmeyer
149: Michael Prieto/Colten Carlson
157: No. 18 Luke Zilverberg
165: Garrett Jordan/Kasey Klapprodt/Logan Peterson/Zach Carlson/Brett Bye
174: No. 11 David Kocer
184: Brady Ayers/Martin Mueller
197: No. 9 Nate Rotert
285: Alex Macki/Kevin Vough

The graduation of Ben Gillette has left a wide-open race to take hold of the 125 spot. Now in his third year, Kahlen Morris has the most experience of the bunch but is sporting just a 9-25 career record. The Portillo twins Justin and Josh redshirted last year, with Josh posting slightly better results against common opponents. The coaching staff appears keen on giving every guy a fair look, even true freshmen Connor Brown and Rylee Molitor. If either proves to be the best option at 125, he will wrestle right away.

Seth Gross is the face of the program right now. Ranked No. 1 to start the year after making the NCAA finals in March, Gross is a crucial part of building South Dakota State into a contender. Last season, he was 34-2 with 30 bonus-point wins, mostly due to his ferocious riding on top. Though his main training partner in AJ Schopp has since left to take a job at Purdue, Gross is still the favorite to win South Dakota State's first-ever national title.



One guy set to make a big jump this year for the Jackrabbits is sophomore Henry Pohlmeyer. Now in his third year in the program, he went 11-12 last season, with his marquee win coming when he pinned Nebraska's Colton McCrystal at Midlands. The key part of the season for Pohlmeyer will be the second semester, as all eight Big 12 duals come Jan. 12 or later. A strong dual season would put him in a position for a favorable seed at the conference tourney and an easier road to qualifying.

Michael Prieto is a guy who came on strong at the end of last year. Maybe it was due to cutting less weight or wrestling fewer DI guys, but he won 11 of his last 13 to close out his redshirt season. The four-time Kansas state champ has positioned himself to battle for the starting spot this year at 149 for SDSU. His main competition is redshirt freshman Colten Carlson, who is dropping down from 157. Carlson was 25-13 during his redshirt year.



Along with 125lb, there is a wide-open race to win the 165 spot. Last year's starter in Luke Zilverberg is dropping down, leaving Brett Bye, Zach Carlson, Garrett Jordan, Kasey Klapprodt, and Logan Peterson to fight it out. Peterson was the starter at 157, while Klapprodt and Bye both wrestled at Midlands, so they would likely be the early leaders. Zilverberg starts the year ranked 18th.

There's three main guys on the Jackrabbits with a realistic shot at being All-Americans, and one of them is 174-pounder David Kocer. The senior had a rough draw this past March in St. Louis, with eventual champ Mark Hall in round one and 2016 AA Casey Kent in the consolation round. But Kocer's hit list includes All-Americans Jake Residori, Lelund Weatherspoon, and Kyle Crutchmer (see below) as well as ranked guys such as Taylor Lujan and Te'Shan Campbell.



Last year's starter at 184, Martin Mueller, will be pushed by Brady Ayers for the spot. Ayers beat Mueller 4-3 at the 2016 Daktronics Open in their only head-to-head matchup. Ultimately, both guys have the ability to win 20-plus matches and qualify for Cleveland.

Nate Rotert did not have the NCAA tournament he wanted but walked in as the ninth seed. He's qualified for nationals the past three years and has an outside shot at reaching 100 career wins. Check out his signature win from last year, an overtime upset of Oklahoma State All-American Preston Weigel in Stillwater, OK.



Heavyweight will be an interesting battle between senior Alex Macki and true freshman Kevin Vough. Macki has been the starter the past two seasons and is known as one of the hardest workers in the SDSU room. Vough was originally a Boise State commit, but after the Broncos program was cut he was able to reopen his recruitment and landed in Brookings. He was No. 63 on the 2016 Big Board after winning two Ohio state titles for Elyria.

The amount of roster battles leaves some questions about how strong of a dual team the Jackrabbits could have, and we'll have to wait and see what their ceiling is in duals. But they will certainly be a strong tournament team, coming in at No. 3 on our Big 12 team rankings. It's pretty simple really: Age, redshirts, and experience don't matter this year. South Dakota State is pushing all its chips to the center, and the best team will start.

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